After getting the initial What is an SEO and What does an SEO do questions out of the way, and after explaining the basics of what an SEO  does, I then like to make notes of the questions asked.

So after saying things like I build websites that get ranked high in Google the typical questions I am asked are;

How do you get higher in Google

How do you get a website higher in Google

What do you do to rank higher in Google

Can you get me top in Google

Can anyone rank high in Google

Is it easy to rank high in Google

How much does it cost to rank high in Google

How long does it take to rank high in Google

What can I do to rank higher in Google

Who can rank me higher in Google

How do I show in the maps on google

Do you have to pay to rank higher in Google

I then make a note of all these questions and combine them with other keyword resarch to build up target phrases for SEO campaigns.

Lovely packaging, I thought at first someone had sent me a new iPad, but no it turned out to be a box of 10 £50 AdWords vouchers and a little USB stick from the Google Engage Team.

I will be offering these out to the first 10 people (without existing AdWords accounts) who take out an upgraded listing in UK Small Business Directory and who request assistance in starting an AdWords campaign.

I started of writing some New SEO Tips with the intention of just being another 5 tips to compliment my top 10 SEO Tips page.

2 hours later I had finished what I feel is one of my best posts for a long time and decided to put it on a  New SEO Tips page on V1 SEO.

For some time now one of the factors a number of webmasters have used to gauge how well their websites were doing was by how many pages were indexed in Google, the more pages indexed the better the site will do.

Those with dynamic sites found themselves using the same data from the database to create multiple pages, thus increasing indexed pages in Google.

Increasing indexed pages sounds good in theory, but many webmaster observed what appeared to be a levelling off effect in Google traffic, and found that if you increased the indexed pages of a 100,000 page website to 200,000 the traffic stayed exactly the same, even if the new pages were ranking high.

Lets’s jump back a couple of years to some SEO tests I was running at the time.

I will use a grading system of A to J for this demonstration with A being the highest

I was monitoring existing old pages that were ranked top 10 in Google, for this example we shall use test-1.html and assume;

1. It is ranking number 7 in Google for the phrase Metal Wheelbarrow

2. It has grading system score of C

Now in my little experiments I would create a new page (test-2.html) talking about metal wheelbarrows, but, and this is the important part of the experiment, would not link this new page to the old page in anyway (not even to the category or breadcrumb trails).

As the new page is not linking to or connected with the old page in anyway, one would assume that it would not effect the new page, but no, numerous times when running these SEO tests I would find that the old existing page received a boost just because a new page had been added to the site using the target keyword (despite not being linked in anyway)

To sum up, adding a new page to a site, talking about content which was on another page of the site would boost the old page even if not connected in anyway.

Using maths to explain more – Pre Panda

GradeScore of test-1.html (existing page) =  C

GradeScore of test-2.html (new page) =  H

Combine the two (ie. add new page to a site) and test-2.html stays at H but test-1.html is given an artificial boost, moves to grade B and gained positions in the SERPS.

Using maths to explain more – Post Panda

Grade Score of test-1.html (existing page) =  C

Grade Score of test-2.html (new page) =  H

Combine the two (ie. add new page to a site) and test-2.html becomes G but test-1.html is filtered slightly, drops to grade D and dropped positions in the Serps.

To summarise

Pre Panda – adding more pages to a site would artificially boost an existing established page and increase the grade from C to B, with the new page staying low graded and effectively acting as a feeder page

Post Panda – adding more pages to a site would weaken an existing page (spreading jam to thin) decrease the grade from C to D and the new page is effectively creating a filtering effect.

The best analogy is Pre Panda you had 1 above average page and numerous below average pages (feeding strong page). Post Panda all your pages are average (with the new pages weakening the established ones).

In effect by adding 100 new pages to a 100 page site you can increase the amount of indexed pages to 200, but you end up with 100 grade D and grade G pages instead of 100 Grade C pages.

So How do we combat Panda Problems

Probably a little simplified, but the answer is to either remove, block from search engines or re-direct the low average pages so the Jam is spread more thickly on the high average pages.

More coming soon….

Panda Balancing
Can you balance the Panda?

When I 1st started paying an interest in SEO back in 2002 / 2003 I spent most of my time on Usenet rather than forums, and only started venturing in to forums with the start of the early SEO competitions.

Back then I would hang around in SearchGuild, SEO Chat, the SEO Guy forum, Web Master World, DigitalPoint and a bit later V7N

As SEO grew in popularity these forums all got busier and the good information tended to be buried in amongst a lot of drivvel.

Unfortunately Google had destroyed Usenet, so I ventured accross more in to general business forums and was soon out of touch with SEO Forums.

The latest Google Panda update has refreshed my interest in SEO Forums again, Ijust need to find the best SEO forums again and would appreciate some pointers.

First thing I did as always was ask who they were registered to, who were they registered through and who were they hosted with?

Surprise, surprise, as I see too often, they were registered in the name of their existing host and they had no idea who they were registered through.

The first thing I told them was, not to fall out with their current host and to set up their own account in their own name at 123-reg

Once they had their 123-reg account set up they granted me access to their control panel and then spoke to their existing host about about transferring the TAG and registration to them.

Knowing it would just get delayed if we asked the existing host to change the registrations at Nominet we asked him just to change the TAG and we would do the rest.

It took about 24 hours, and a few emails backwards and forwards, but eventually he agreed to this and did it, as soon as he said he had, and had also confirmed we could transfer them, I jumped in to the 123-reg control panel used their transfer system, confirmed the TAG had been changed and took control of the domains in the new control panel.

With everything now under our control, I updated all contact details and email addresses, waited 20 minutes for Nominet to pick up the changes, then logged in to Nominet and transferred the registration from the old hosts name to the guys name who I was helping.

With the 123-reg control panel in the guys name, the TAGS changed to 123-REG, the domain registration ownership transferred to them, we now had the hosting to sort out.

The hosting they had with the existing host still had a number of months left to run and the existing host ensured us he would leave it all live until we said otherwise (another reason why I said not to fall out with him).

Now, as a I have a reseller hosting package with Vidahost I could have hosted the sites for them, but as they have 5 domains and 2 established sites I advised them it was more sensible to take out a seperate hosting package with Vidahost, again in their own names.

With this all set up it was now a case of gaining FTP access to their existing hosting to back up both sites before  moving to the next step….

And the point of this post?

Fortunately, they knew who was hosting and controlling their websites, maintained an amicable relationship with him and managed to gain complete control of their domains.

Are your websites in your name, do you have control of the TAG, have you a full back up of all files and databases of your website, would you be able to just switch namservers and change hosted at the drop of a hat?

If not, my advice is get control of your domain names now, you may have total trust in whoever has the ultimate control, but what would happen if he were to get hit by a bus on the way home?

The way my guys have it set up now means if anything happens to me, they have total control,  once I have finished helping them get everything set up, they can change all passwords or trust me to look after them, with the knowledge they can change passwords and give anyone else full access at any time.

We came up with the theory that a new web page that receives a high amount of natural traffic from Google is given trust status and ranks higher than pages that don’t receive natural traffic.

A further explanation can be found on – Is Traffic Baiting The New Link Baiting